Almost
by Ryumako
Summary: Slightly edited and reuploaded from my tumblr onto here. Maki teaches Nico a little something about romance.


The sand on the beach feels soft, almost like a cloud, Maki decided, continuing to walk along it slowly and relishing in the moonlit night.

She sighed, μ's was having a sort of 'vacation' in one of Maki's villas near the beach to celebrate their victory at the Love Live! Tournament. The day so far had been both fun and tiring, but the girls had all decided to watch a movie and Maki, not really wanting to watch it, stepped out for a stroll near the ocean.

Looking off into the distance where the moon reflected onto the water, she could only stop and stare at the beautiful scenery surrounding her.

"It's so peaceful out here…" Maki whispered to herself, feeling the gentle seaside wind pull on her short, layered, white silk dress.

"Hey." She heard an annoyed high pitched voice call out from behind her. _So much for that._

Turning, violet eyes met ruby, and she frowned at the expression she saw Nico making.

"What. What is it? You look like someone just threw a rock at your ice cream cone and you ended up dropping it."

"That's oddly specific, Maki-chan, does someone have some childhood trauma they haven't gotten over?" Nico snickered, her face turning into one of amusement.

"No…maybe…shut up." Looking off to the side, Maki began twirling her hair. "Anyway, why did you come out here?"

" _I_ should be asking _you_ that." Nico responded. "Everyone's inside watching the movie and you just decide to ditch us and come out here? Pfft, what, are you scared something's gonna pop out at you from the movie? It's not even a scary one, y'know."

"No, _as if_. And I know what it is too, I just don't like watching those cheesy romance movies." Maki scoffed. "They should at least _try_ a little to make it more realistic."

"Realistic?! Are you even hearing yourself?! It's a story where true love conquers all and two lovers have to face so many different obstacles just to meet each other again! How is that not romantic?!"

"It's _cliché_ , Nico-chan. Every one of those movies is the same, that's not true love, that just bad marketing towards lonely single people."

"Hey, what would a kid like you know about romance anyway?! I've already seen it before and that movie is great, you don't even know what you're talking about!"

 _Seriously? She's taking this so personally. What's her deal, anyway? I don't understand her at all._

Maki narrowed her eyes. "Ha! What's with that, you say that as though you would know anything either! Besides, you're only _a year_ older than me, what do you mean by ' _kid'_?! What could you possibly know that I don't?!"

Gritting her teeth and glaring at the red-head, Nico yelled back "I _would_ know. More than you anyway, not that I would expect _a kid_ to understand, a year is more than you think, you know! But fine, what would _you_ consider 'romantic' then?!"

"You're so annoying, acting all high and mighty! Fine then, I'll show you!" Furious, both at the conversation and at the thought of Nico having experience with love ( _not that Maki's thoughts lingered on that too long_ ), Maki abruptly pulled Nico to her, her right hand swiftly gripping Nico's left and the other grabbing at the older girl's upper body.

"O-oi what are you doing?!" Maki ignored her and guided Nico's other hand to her shoulder before re-placing her own at Nico's ribs. Once done, she raised her elbow perpendicularly and released her tight hold on Nico's left hand slightly.

"There, now follow my lead." Slowly, Maki began swaying softly side to side.

"Uhh…" Nico, far too distracted with the sudden dance and Maki lightly singing to the tune of 'Thinking out Loud', momentarily stood in awe. Once she snapped out of it, she shyly began moving in sync to the melody, all anger dissipated as fast as it appeared.

"He'd dance with you like this," Maki began, momentarily pausing her singing, "…hold you tight as though he'd finally found you after searching for you his entire life." To emphasize, Maki pulled Nico closer, her hand shifting from Nico's torso down to her hip, her arm no longer supporting Nico's.

"Wait, what? Who would?" Nico questioned, interrupting Maki's song again.

"The perfect guy. Y'know, someone who _actually_ _has a clue about romance._ " She delicately twirled Nico and met the shorter's eyes.

"Psht. Whatever, smartass." NIco halfheartedly muttered out. Maki was really good at setting the mood, Nico blushed in realization. _I wouldn't be surprised if she was the knight in shining armor to sweep a girl off her feet and not the other way around…ah, wait, what? Did I really just think that?_ Nico continued to feel her face heat up and shook her head quickly, hoping Maki hadn't noticed.

Holding each other close, they could feel the other's rapid heartbeat against their chests. Believing it must be their own racing heart, they continued on in their slow dance with Nico softly joining in on the melody.

With each step, they tried to ignore the ever-growing feelings they felt blossoming in their chests and the thoughts that began to fill their heads, _'must just be the setting or something' 'this doesn't mean anything, I mean sure she's beautiful and talented and- no wait, argh it's just the mood, it's just the mood, it's just the mood...' 'damn, she feels so warm… UGH not again!'_ The dance continued however, with Nico occasionally being spun and Maki's hand wrapping around Nico's waist, subconsciously bringing her closer and closer.

As the 'song' finally came to a halt, Maki dipped Nico smoothly, gazing into her eyes at _"we found love right where we are."_

Breathless at the sight of Maki's dress flowing with the light breeze and her face lit up partially by the moonlight, Nico tightened her hold on Maki's shoulders. Maki smirked at seeing the blushing Nico beneath her, not quite realizing or thinking of the reason behind it but relishing in it anyway, feeling her own face get warmer.

"Then," Maki gingerly lifted her back up. "He'd guide you to him and then place his hands on your hips." She said, barely above a whisper while gently grabbing both Nico's hands and resting them on her shoulders. She placed her own hands on Nico's waist afterwards and returned her gaze from her hands into seemingly sparkling ruby eyes.

Nico took in a breath through her nose suddenly, not going unnoticed by Maki but not acknowledged regardless. Maki smiled, softly, honestly, only able to deny her thoughts but not able to hide her true feelings through her gestures.

"And then… he'd lean in to kiss you…" Maki whispered not having noticed she'd already been leaning in and was now inches away from Nico's lips. With lidded eyes, she saw Nico close hers and felt her breath catch, her heart thumping in her chest. Nico had slightly parted her lips and tilted her head, waiting for Maki to close to the distance.

Realizing what was going on, Maki's eyes widened, her lips only centimeters away from Nico's. She grabbed hold of Nico's shoulders in panic and abruptly pushed apart their distance.

"U-uh anyway, that's-that's how it _should_ go, haha, you get it now, right?" Maki took a step back, wrapping an arm around her torso as though to reassure herself, and mindlessly twirling her hair with the other, refusing meet Nico's eyes. Her face felt as though it were on fire and she _desperately_ wanted to get back to where the others were at in the villa.

"Maki…" Nico extended a hand as though to reach for Maki's but the red-head noticed and quickly took another step back, staring at the hand as though it were the plague and biting her lip tightly.

Hurt flashed through Nico's eyes and, catching it, Maki instantly felt guilty, but was far too nervous with the situation to try to get close and comfort her senior.

"Wait, Nico-chan I-… I'm sorry I didn't mean it like that I… look I just-" Maki sighed. "Y'know, we should probably get back, the others are probably waiting for us and stuff…let's just forget this happened ok?"

Nico could only stare broken-hearted as Maki turned and started walking off the beach and up the little road leading to the others. She felt her eyes water "it's not fair…it's not fair it's not fairit'sn _otfairit'snotfair_ -" she mumbled to herself before wiping off her tears with the back of her hand and begrudgingly walking back as well.

 _I…what just happened? Did we almost…kiss? Why is my heart hurting so much, should I not have done that? Should I have just leaned in?_ Now alone with her thoughts, Maki walked faster, pacing up towards the manor. She could feel her eyes begin to sting.

 _It's not fair, you're not fair Nico-chan. Why do you make me feel this way? It's not fair…_

Looking up at the moon one last time, Maki silently wished she'd have been able to take a chance and just close the distance that only seemed to keep growing between the two.

* * *

Ayyyy you thought. Haha, I kinda liked this one so I edited it a little and posted it here too. Alright I don't have much else to say, thanks for reading~


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